Guinea – interview

Senegal recognises military coup

Article published on the 2008-12-27 Latest update 2008-12-29 10:50 TU

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara (R) speaks during a meeting in Conakry.
(Photo: Reuters)

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade gave Guinea’s newly installed military government a vote of confidence and its first international nod by declaring his support for Captain Moussa Dadis Camara and his stated intentions for Guinea’s future.

Contacted by RFI’s French-language service, Wade made it clear that he trusted the mid-level military leader to stay true to his word and organise elections with universal participation in December 2010.

“My feeling is that this military group deserves to be supported,” Wade told RFI. “For once we’ve got a military that says ‘we’ve taken power … [but] we want to organise elections including political parties and everyone who’s interested’”.

“Giving up power and going home so quickly – we don’t often hear this kind of language,” Wade said.

Speaking after the interview, Camara made new intentions clear at large meetings between civil society and the new military government held Saturday. All existing mining contracts will be renegotiated, the coup leader said, and all gold extraction would be frozen.

The invite-only meeting included representatives of political parties, unions, civil society and religious groups at the Alpha Yaya Diallo military camp in the capital Conakry.

Despite its mineral wealth, Guinea remains under-developed and impoverished, the result of widespread corruption, Camara says.